


Ineffability and Witchcraft

by alatarmaia4



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Not A Genderbend, Trans!Harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-04-02 04:43:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4046431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alatarmaia4/pseuds/alatarmaia4
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Harry Potter is seven years old, the Dursleys move to Tadfield. They have no idea what they've just stepped into the middle of, but Harry is just glad that there are actually people her age who seem to like her, and Them are thrilled to find another real live witch in their midst. And while the Apocalypse-That-Wasn't is now over, ineffability continues to play its part...ish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Introduction, Or, In the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Just a crossover idea that occurred to me. Hope you enjoy! It'll be more of a series of one-shots, not an entire story.
> 
> Just a note: this does take place in modern day, just because certain issues that are brought up are easier to deal with in a modern context since I know more about them then.
> 
> I should probably stop giving myself more stories to update when I've still got a bunch of in-progress stuff to work on back on ff.net.  
> Disclaimer: I do not own Good Omens or Harry Potter

When Harry was seven years old, the Dursleys moved to a small town called Lower Tadfield.

The Dursleys had decided that a smaller community would be better for Dudley to grow up in - something her Aunt Petunia had no doubt read in one of her magazines - and Harry had come along with them, since they were her guardians after all.

Harry was currently wandering the streets of the tiny little town, as she'd been kicked out of the house so she wouldn't get in the way while the movers were bringing things in. It was nothing like Privet Drive - or even Little Whinging. For one thing, the houses were all different in at least one or two little ways. Also, there seemed to be a lot of noise - someone, or several someones, were shouting and talking rapidly over a strange background noise.

The source of this became apparent when four bikes shot around the corner. The boy on the lead bike, whose head was a mop of gold curls, noticed Harry and skidded to a stop, making the other three quickly follow his lead.

"Who're you?" The boy asked, sounding curious.

"I'm Harry." She answered.

"I've never seen you 'round here before," One of the other boys said. Like the first boy, he didn't sound suspicious - just curious. His bike was also filthy, and Harry imagined that his Aunt Petunia would probably scream if she saw it.

"I'm new here," she explained. "My aunt and uncle just moved here."

"Why're you living with your aunt instead of your parents?" The only girl of the group questioned, a fiery redhead with, for some reason, a sheet of cardboard pinned to her bike with pins like the one Aunt Petunia usually used when she was hanging up laundry on the line - or when she was showing Harry how to do it, at least.

Harry looked down and scuffed her feet in the dirt of the road. "They're dead."

There was an awkward pause, but it lasted for only a second as the boy who also sported a pair of glasses - much thicker than Harry's - glared at the girl. "Pepper, you can't just _ask_ about things like that."

"I didn't know!" 'Pepper' retorted defensively.

"It's all right," Harry said quickly. "I don't mind."

The first boy was still watching her. "I'm Adam," he announced. "So you're stayin' here, then?"

"Aunt Petunia thinks it's better to grow up in a smaller town," Harry repeated. "So I think so."

"Well, I think you're alright," Adam said cheerfully. "That's Pepper," He pointed out the girl, "An' Brian, an' Wensley." The dirty boy first, and then the one who had tried to tell off Pepper grinned at Harry.

"Hi," Harry said awkwardly, unused to interacting with very many people her age who didn't either dislike him or were too terrified of Dudley to go near him.

"You can get your bike, if you want, an' come with us," Adam suggested. "We're going down to the Pit."

Harry was unsure what 'the Pit' was, but it sounded vaguely ominous. "I don't have a bike."

That made them all stare at her. "You don't have a bike?" Pepper repeated incredulously. "How've you gotten anywhere if you don't have a bike?"

Harry shrugged.

"You should ask for one," Adam said imperiously. "'S not right, someone not havin' a bike. Everybody should have a bike."

"My aunt and uncle wouldn't get one for me even if I did," Harry said, slightly disheartened. "They don't like me very much."

"You can share a bike with one of us for now," Pepper offered hesitantly, once the four of them had gotten done looking at each other and wondering how to respond to something like that. "You should see the quarry, anyway - it's all ours, and Greasy Johnson never got nowhere near it!"

Harry had no idea who Greasy Johnson was, but she was beginning to see that this was the first opportunity to make friends she'd had in a long time. "Alright."

There was a lot of awkward scrambling involved in getting on the back of Piper's bike, since she was the only one who had anything resembling a seat on the back, but eventually Harry was sitting sidesaddle on the bike rack and clutching at Pepper so she didn't fall off.

She went _very_ fast.

The Pit, as it turned out, was actually an abandoned chalk quarry, and the best hideout Harry had ever seen. She jumped off just as Pepper screeched to a halt, letting her bike fall over instead of using the kickstand [which had fallen off some years previously, either from disuse or rough handling, and no one could agree on which. Her mother wasn't bothered].

"This is _awesome,"_ Harry declared, staring around, and the four Them exchanged pleased looks.

* * *

Harry, to her aunt and uncle's disapproval, continued hanging out with Adam and the rest of Them, to the point where one day Them showed up at the front gate of the Dursley's new house.

"Harry!"

Harry looked up from her work in the garden - which still had yet to grow, to Aunt Petinua's ire and, apparently, due to her fault - and was both surprised and pleased to see the four of Them standing there, bikes propped against the fence and leaning over it, as best as a few not-so-tall eight year olds could.

"C'mon, we're goin' down to the quarry again! Adam's got an idea." Pepper said impatiently. "Also, we've got a new name."

"What is it?" Harry asked, putting down the trowel for a moment.

"We're the Legion of Really Secret Super-Heroes now," Brian informed her. "Adam read a book about a bunch of kids who got to be super-heroes, so we've got powers too now. It'll be brilliant."

Harry would have replied, if Aunt Petunia had not chosen that moment to poke her head out the door.

"Boy, what are you doing?" Her eagle eyes immediately narrowed in on the four at the gate, and she gave a small noise of indignant discontent. "You! Get off my gate, I've just cleaned it and I will not have you getting it all dirty!"

Brian jerked back in surprise. He had, indeed, left dirty handprints on the gate. Harry knew with a sinking feeling that it was going to be _her_ job to wash it off. She'd probably be forced to repaint the whole fence.

"We just came to talk to Harry," Pepper said. "We were goin' to go an' play."

Aunt Petunia glared at the four of Them - sorry, glared at the four members of the Legion or Really Secret Super-Heroes. Only Adam didn't shrink back when pinned with _that_ look. She then turned to Harry.

"If you think you're going out, you've got another thing coming, boy," She said severely. "You've still got to finish this garden - and mind you don't _mess up_ this time - and then the dishes need doing and-"

"It's not right, makin' one person do all that," Objected a young voice.

Aunt Petunia turned around again.

Adam was staring at her. Not particularly maliciously, but it was a pretty strong gaze to be trapped under, and she faltered as any human being would have. "He needs to help out," She managed to sputter.

"Why?" Adam wrinkled his nose. "My dad says everyone has to pitch in but he says that I don't need t' to anything 'till I'm old enough to actu'lly learn somethin' from it, an' he says it would just be wasted on me now. Way I see it, no one should be forced to do somethin' they don't enjoy doin' unless it's really important, an' gardenin' isn't as important as super-heroes anyway."

Aunt Petunia stared for a few moments. She seemed unsure how to respond to that.

"So we're just goin' to go now, then," Adam said, as if he'd just concluded a long and successful negotiation - which, in a sense, he had. "An' I bet you've got a bike by now, so you can go an' get that too."

"Dudley got a new bike," Harry offered hesitantly, glancing at the still-frozen Aunt Petunia. "He doesn't use his old one anymore."

"Then you can use that one." Adam was still staring at Aunt Petunia. "It's not fair," He said speculatively, "For one person to get two bikes an' the other one to not be able to use either of 'em."

Jerkily, Aunt Petunia nodded, turning sharply and slamming the door behind her as she retreated inside. Harry was glowing as she shed his work gear, hastily stowing it all in the box that it was usually kept in and racing out to the garage to retrieve Dudley's old-but-apparently-now-useless-now-that-he'd-got-a-new-one bike.

It was silver with blue accents, and the rest of them were very impressed with it.

"Let's go, then!"

"Er-" Something had suddenly occurred to Harry. She stared at the bike. "I don't know how to ride one."

The Secret League of Really Super-Heroes stopped, stared, and came to a mutual consensus almost immediately.

Harry was one of Them, now, after all.

"Here, we'll show you how it's done. It's really not that hard, but if you go down High Street you've got to watch out for Ms. Olsen's bushes at the end, they're wicked sharp, but over there's a good street to do it one since it's on a hill an' you don't really have to pedal at all."

Moving to Tadfield, Harry thought, was the best thing her aunt and uncle had ever done for her.

* * *

Them stayed Them, however many names Adam thought up for the five of them [which mostly depended on what books he'd been reading prior to when they met up] and some of the best days of Harry's life were spent in their company.

"I don't see why I have to do it, though!"

Pepper's mother had recently decided that Pepper needed more of an artsy education, and had signed her up for drawing lessons at the local high school, _without_ consulting Pepper first.

In the eyes of Them, this was a transgression of the highest order.

"She could've at least _asked_ you first," Wensley agreed, pushing his glasses up his nose again.

Pepper sniffed in what she thought was a sadly regal way. "It's because I'm a _girl,_ " She said scornfully. "Mum thinks that girls should like art an' that stuff, but I _don't."_

"I like art," Harry offered. "I'm not that good, though."

"You don't count," Pepper said dismissively. "You're a boy."

Harry bristled. "No, I'm not."

All of Them stared at him. Well, most of them. Adam just said "Oh, I knew that already."

"You did?" Harry asked hopefully. "You can tell?"

"Well, yeah." Adam replied, like it should have been obvious.

"I can't tell," Brian announced. "You _look_ like a boy. An' your aunt calls you that."

"Harry's aunt doesn't count," Pepper said scornfully. "She's _stupid._ Harry wouldn't have told _her."_

"She wouldn't listen even if I did," Harry muttered, gaining a small pat on the shoulder from Pepper.

"I got one of my comics," Wensley said slowly, "An' it had a part that my mom tore out 'cause she wanted to read it but she forgot to give it back but I read a bit of it before that an' it talked about biolocal sex an' gender an' stuff."

"I've heard a bit about that," Pepper said, sitting up straight, pleased to be the most knowledgeable about something for once. "My mum talks about it a lot, an' apparently it's a really big problem 'cause there are some people who've got problems 'cause who they are doesn't match up with who their body says they are but it's not the body's de-cis-ion, it's the person's, an' she said no one will talk about it 'cause they don't want to ac - ackno - say that they were wrong about people or anythin'."

Harry had sat upright. "That sounds like me," She said, faintly astonished.

Brian shrugged. "So, there's still only three boys?" He sounded faintly disappointed.

Pepper stuck out her tongue. "Shut up, Brian."

Harry was still in shock that they'd accepted her so easily.

"I think there was something about people being able to change their body, too," Pepper said, staring into space and squinting slightly, which meant that she was trying to remember something.

"Really?" Harry stared at her, openmouthed.

"Yeah. Maybe we should talk to her."

"I always wondered," Adam said, making them all immediately shut up, "Why your name was Harry if you're a girl."

There was a moment of silence.

"Harry can be a girl's name," Harry said defensively.

"It's more like a nickname for a girl," Brian put in. "Like if it were short for Harriet or something."

"Harriet's a stupid name," Pepper snorted. "If Harry's goin' to have a girl's name h- _she_ should get a cool one."

"I don't mind being called Harry," Harry lied, shifting on the stone floor of the quarry.

"You should get a girl's name," Adam decided. "Callin' someone by the wrong name's rude, especially if it's the wrong gender too."

"My mum said names don't have a gender," Pepper said.

"Yes, they do," Wensley disagreed. "Girl's don't have names like, like Brian. An' boys don't have names like Rachel an' that."

"That's just because of-" Pepper paused. "'Cause people decided that _these_ names were for girls an' _these_ names were for boys. It doesn't actually matter whether a name's supposed to be for a boy or a girl."

"What do you think?" Collective attention swiveled to Harry as Brian asked the question, who fidgeted uncomfortably again.

"I get what Pepper means," she said quietly, "But I don't want to be called Harry, really."

"Rachel?" Wensley said again, but Harry shook her head.

"Not a name like Pepper's," Brian said, grinning, and then yelped when Pepper tackled him into the ground and did her best to trap him in a headlock, but they were both only eight and not very strong.

The other three Them ignored this. It was a fairly regular occurrence, whenever Brian happened to say something that could be construed as sexist or any other -ist. Pepper was very fine-tuned to identifying to these sort of things, as her mother was an enthusiastic feminist.

"Ada?" Wensley suggested. "There was someone called Ada Lovelace in my last comic. She was a really brilliant scientist. Computers an' stuff even though the dint even exist yet."

Harry considered it. "Maybe," She said slowly.

"We should pick an 'h' name." Adam said. "So it's sort of like Harry. But not."

"That sounds good." Wensley paused. " _Do_ you like Harriet?"

"Not really," Harry admitted. "Pepper's right. It's stupid."

"Of course I'm right." Pepper's head popped up, and she seemed to decide that Brian had been thoroughly defeated, getting off of him and taking a seat next to Harry again. Brian didn't make an attempt to wipe the chalk dust off the back of his shirt, and even if he had the attempt probably would have been wasted.

"Hazel?" Pepper tried after thinking about it for a moment. "There was a girl named Hazel in Percy Jackson."

Harry considered that one too, before rejecting it.

"We'll think of something," Adam said confidently. "We've got all day."

* * *

A newly-christened Hayley got back to the Dursley's house, took one look at her aunt and uncle loudly complaining over that night's news that the man who was apparently a famous actor should be sacked for daring to marry someone of the same gender, and reaffirmed her decision not to say anything.

* * *

When she was ten years old, Hayley was playing in the quarry with the rest of Them and fell.

It wasn't far, but she landed face-first and scraped her forehead - right near where her scar was.

"Hayley!" Several alarmed voices yelled out at once, and Hayley blinked muzzily at the suddenly shiny stone in front of her face. She was pretty sure that red stuff hadn't been there previously.

Adam got there first - no one was quite sure how - and was staring at her, looking the most panicked any of Them had ever seen him. He warily touched Hayley's forehead and Hayley winced, letting out a sharp _aahh_ of pain. It did hurt when he poked it, and even when he stopped touching it.

Adam was staring at her with an unusual intensity, and Hayley was surprised to see that her vision had already cleared. "There's something weird on your forehead," Adam said.

"Is it the blood?" Hayley managed to say clearly, but Adam didn't laugh.

He reached out and very carefully touched her forehead again, not the cut this time - her scar. Them had been very impressed with it when Hayley had first shown them, since it looked just like real lightning - jagged and pale. Wensley, who sometimes got medical knowledge from his comics, had said it looked like there was something in her forehead that it had healed over.

Hayley had told him that it hadn't healed _over_ anything except her skull, which led to a long rambling discussion on muscles and then bodies which ended with most of them pulling their shirts up so they could compare stomachs to see who had the most muscle, but now with Adam poking at the scar it _did_ feel like something was trapped under there.

Something 'weird'.

Adam was almost scowling, and Hayley would deny that she quailed under having that look directed at her.

His finger pressed down harder, and then the sensation vanished and the rest of Them were crowding around her, asking anxiously if she was alright and did she need stitches because she really was bleeding a lot but she would be fine as long as they got someone to help quick.

* * *

She needed three stitches and Aunt Petunia was stiffly outraged about the cost of the treatment and the medicine she had to take for the next few weeks, but the presence of Them and a few other worried parents made sure that the kept a lid on it.

That, and the fact that she still seemed to be put off-kilter by Adam, who while not saying anything stared at Aunt Petunia so that when they got home she just sent Hayley up to her room with the pill bottle and instructions for taking them without saying a word.

Adam, Hayley thought, was _brilliant._

* * *

When Hayley turned eleven, so did Adam.

Neither of them had any idea of what was coming.

Several miles away and very close to what they were seeking, an angel and a demon were driving out of Tadfield, and someone had just rented Jasmine cottage.

* * *

When she was eleven, Hayley got a letter in the mail.

Her uncle ripped it up before she could read it.

Another letter came the next day, and Hayley had snatched it up and was flying down the road on the same bike she'd gotten three years ago towards the Pit, where Them would no doubt show up soon - and they did, and Hayley excitedly showed them the letter she'd read while waiting for them to get there, because _holy crap._

"You've really got magic?" Adam demanded, something lit up inside him that made him different than usual. Dog, who was only a day in Adam's ownership, sniffed around at the quarry and growled at anything other than Them that moved. Hayley thought he was a very odd dog, but Adam had assured her that he just needed training.

"Apparently." Hayley read over the letter again. "There's a supplies list an' it says a wand an' everything. It's too complicated to just be a joke, and anyway Dudley isn't this creative."

"Does it say cauldron?" Pepper demanded. "Maybe you'll get to chant and make potions."

Hayley scanned the letter. "It does!"

"Hey, look." Wensley had picked up the discarded envelope. "Look! It says to Hayley, not Harry. Whoever sent this really knows you."

"It's got your bedroom on it," Brian noted. "Maybe they've been spyin' on you."

"That'd mean they know about us, too," Pepper said, "An' none of us have letters."

"Maybe we're not magic." All of them cast looks at Adam, who was examining the shorter letter with a chilly expression that usually only appeared when someone else had thought of something he wished he'd thought up.

"Maybe," He said after what felt like an eternity, and Them relaxed as one. "Are you goin' to say yes?"

"I don't know." Hayley pulled her knees to her chest, then remembered that she was wearing a skirt and stopped herself. She had taken to wearing Pepper's hand-me-downs instead of Dudley's, since Them had collectively decided that Dudley, who at this point was a contender with Greasy Johnson in terms of Them's enemies, were entirely unsuitable for Hayley's and they were pretty close to the same size, anwyay. "I don't know anything about magic, and my relatives won't help me figure it out."

Them were well aware what the Dursleys were like, so no one commented on that. "D'you think they'll send someone from the school?" Pepper asked hopefully. "A real live witch!"

"What about our Inquisition?" Hayley asked, remembering their fake Spanish Inquisition from yesterday.

"Oh, witches are alright," Adam said, sitting upright. "Did I tell you that the woman in Jasmine cottage really is a witch?"

"I said so!" Pepper said triumphantly. "Didn't I say she was a witch?"

"But she's alright," Adam said again eagerly. "She showed me all these magazines an' stuff, an' there was this man called Charles Fort, an' he could make it rain fish. An' frogs and other stuff."

"They'd die," said Hayley from a certainty gained from science class at the local - and only - primary school. "Fish an' frogs can't live outside of water. If it started raining them they'd get stranded on the sidewalk."

"Was Charles Fort a witch?" Brian asked in interest. Fish and frogs made up a much more interesting rain than plain old water.

"Hold on," Pepper said, "You never said they were _alive_ frogs."

"They were," Adam boasted. "People'd pay him to go away, an' - an' he sailed off in the _Mary Celeste_ an' founded the Bermuda Triangle."

"He can't've," Hayley and Wensley said at the same time.

"The Bermuda Triangle wasn't _founded,_ it's just a name for a bit of ocean."

"The _Mary Celeste_ didn't have any people on it," Wensley said louder. "It got _famous_ for havin' no people on it. It was floatin' around all by itself."

"He could have been on it an' gotten off before they found it," Hayley suggested.

"I dint _say_ he was on it when they _found_ it," Adam interrupted, and Hayley and Wensley quieted. "It's 'cos of the UFOs landin' and takin' him away."

UFOs were much firmer ground. "If _I_ was an alien," Pepper said, "I'd get a laser blaster an' go around tellin' people what to do so I could threaten 'em with it. Not tellin' 'em about cosmic harmony or stuff like that."

Hayley mimed holding a lightsaber and making the noise that lightsabers made when they lit up, and for a moment there was a furious mock battle in front of the milk crate where Adam sat between two people holding invisible lightsabers, and Pepper almost leaped up to join in when Adam cleared his throat pointedly and they both stopped, looking contrite.

"Like I was sayin'," Adam continued, "I 'spect that's what they _used_ to do, only now the rebellion's over an' they want to stop fighting so they're goin' 'round making sure no one stirs anything up. All outlined in bright blue light. Sort of like g'lactic policemen."

The Them thought this over. "Why're they called _Unidentified_ Flying Objects, anyway?" Wensley asked. "They're identified, all right, they're aliens, so why're they still called unidentified?"

"'Cos we don't know what planet they're from." Hayley guessed.

"No," Adam said with a certainty that only he possessed. "It's 'cos the government hushes it up. Like they're s'posed to. All governments hush stuff up, an' they've got a great big library full of books of stuff that they've hushed up."

"But then anyone could go in an' read it," Brian said, frowning.

"It's not a _public_ library. I didn't say _anyone_ could go in. You've got to already know about all of it," Adam explained, sounding aggrieved. "Anyway, there's millions of 'em landing every year an' the government just hushes it up."

"Why?"

Wensley's question made Adam pause. Hayley watched him as they waited for an answer, knowing that one would be forthcoming, because it was _Adam._

"Cos they're the government," was the answer. "The Prime Minister reads it all over an' then he stamps it 'top secret'."

"I bet he has a cup of tea first," Wensley said, "An' reads the paper."

They all agreed, since Wensley had once gone into his father's office while he was in there, and since Wensley's father actually worked for the government that must be what all of them are like.

"But _after_ that he gets out the stamp and the secret documents," Adam reluctantly said. "An' if you _do_ see a UFO, then government men come in a big black car an' tell you not to tell anybody. It happens in America all the time."

Brian brightened. "My cousin just got back from America," He said, "An' he said they've got shops with thirty-nine flavors of ice cream."

There was a pause as they all tried to process this.

"There aren't thirty-nine flavors of ice cream," Hayley said doubtfully. "Dudley would've yelled until someone bought 'em for him. He has eight in the fridge at home, but they're all chocolate an' vanilla. An' strawberry."

"There are more flavors in America, then." Brian stood firm.

"There aren't thirty-nine flavors in the whole _world,"_ Pepper scoffed, "So there can't be that many in America."

"Well, there was an' he said so," Brian said, stung that they didn't believe him. "He wouldn't _lie_ about it."

"And then," Adam said loudly, sensing that it was time to change the topic, "There's Atlantis."

That got them all interested again, since things like sunken cities were right up Them's avenue of interest. They listened in fascination to a jumbled account of lost civilizations, disasters, and temples full of ancient priesthoods with forgotten secrets.

A long afternoon was spent discussing Atlantis, and playing Charles Fort Discovering Things, until the frog [which was the only one the Them could find and made for a disappointing rain] hopped off and they couldn't find it again, at which point they all went home.

Hayley spent the afternoon poring over the letter and trying to make up her mind over whether or not it was real, and if it was, how she was going to be able to reply asking someone to come down to Tadfield and explain things to her properly.

* * *

Hayley hadn't managed to find an answer to her letter problem by the next day – which was Saturday - but she had other things to think about by then.

For one thing, the Dursleys had discovered that she'd read one of the letters, and her Uncle Vernon had promptly gone ballistic and dragged them all out of the house on an impromptu 'vacation'.

The quotation marks are important, because the trip mainly consisted of him driving around crazily and muttering things like "Shake them off" under his breath a lot. Hayley didn't dare say anything about magic, because she thought he might crash the car if she did.

They ended up in a small motel on the outskirts of a city nowhere near Tadfield, which seemed to satisfy Uncle Vernon's need to get far away from whatever he thought was coming.

They spent the whole day in a very odd state, or at least Hayley did and the Durselys, putting it down to her odd attitude, ignored her.

Hayley could tell that something was wrong. The problem was, she didn't know _what_ it was. Late in the day, when she couldn't stand being around the Dursleys another second while they were acting like nothing was wrong [except for the fact that they weren't in Tadfield] she went out into the empty lot behind the motel.

About half an hour later, something very odd happened, and Hayley was abruptly not alone in her own head.

" _Pardon me,"_ She said, surprised and panicked to find her mouth moving and producing an older voice that wasn't hers, " _But do you know where I am? No, please don't panic, I'll be on my way soon, but I have to be somewhere urgently."_

Hayley swallowed, tested her mouth, and discovered that she could use her mouth again. "Are you a witch? _Certainly not._ Oh." It was a very odd feeling, to interrupt yourself without doing it yourself. "This is London. _Darn it. I was aiming for Tadfield._ What d'you want in Tadfield? _Wh – oh. I see."_

Just as abruptly, the presence was gone, and Hayley was alone, not sure whether she'd imagined the posh voice or anything that had just happened, and desperately wishing she knew what was going on.

* * *

Across the country, or at least as much of it that Uncle Vernon had crossed in an attempt to get away from an imagined threat, a very real threat was indeed descending.

It was descending exactly on Lower Tadfield, where three children and one not-so human child sat in the calm of a storm, and made a decision.

Or at least.

The non-human one changed his mind.

* * *

In another area of town, an angel, a fake psychic, and a witchfinder general set off for Lower Tadfield in slightly embarrassing scooter helmets.

* * *

A demon is doing one hundred and ten miles down Oxford street, car flaming, in an attempt to get to where he knows he needs to be for a friend he fears the worst for [or at least the worst minus being killed].

* * *

And just ahead of the demon and the angel [and co.] there are four figures whose presence boded no good riding motorbikes down the highway, followed by four more figures who one of the former would shortly collect.

It was all part of the Plan, or so everyone believed.

Hayley knew none of this.

What she did know was that, an hour or so later, all the electricity went out.

While Uncle Vernon swore and Dudley whined about loosing the only decent connection he'd found on the motel television, Hayley sat in the bathroom [as she'd done for the past hour to avoid her relatives] and clutched her knees tighter to her chest.

Something was very, very wrong.

* * *

Hayley Potter, witch, had no way of knowing exactly what had gone down that Saturday night when the Dursleys returned to Tadfield Sunday afternoon.

She knew that the rest of Them had done _something,_ but none of them except Adam seemed very sure what had happened, and he wasn't willing to share. From pieced-together details, though, Hayley put together a very odd picture she wasn't sure she believed.

But, well, it did explain a lot, including the man who opened the door of Jasmine cottage.

He blinked in surprise at Hayley. "Er, who are you?"

"I'm Hayley." Hayley replied, trying to push back her nervousness and confusion at why someone had built a fire in the middle of August. "I was lookin' for Anathema. Y'know. The witch who lives here." She had to pronounce the name very carefully, but luckily the man seemed to know who she was talking about.

"Oh, well – Anathema!" He leaned around the door to yell.

"What?" Anathema, when she came to the door, looked pretty in an indescribable sort of way. "Oh, hello. Hayley, wasn't it? You're one of Adam's friends. I didn't see you yesterday."

"I was away," Hayley said.

"Lucky you," The man muttered, and Hayley got the feeling she wasn't meant to hear it.

"So what do you want me for?" Anathema asked, looking amused in the way that adults sometimes do around younger children.

"Well, Adam says you're a witch," Hayley explained, holding out her letter, "So I thought you might be able to help."

The man's smile had faded slightly. Anathema reached out and took the letter, her eyebrows shooting up.

"You'd better come inside."

* * *

"There's an entire society of just wizards?" The man - whose name, Hayley had learned, was Newt - was incredulous. "And _no one_ knows about it?"

"Well, they're not really allowed." Anathema said calmly, pouring out three cups of tea and pushing one over to Hayley and Newt each. "It's kept secret from nonmagicals ever since the witch hunts, but Agnes knew about it, so all of us did too. It took a few generations to figure it out, though, until one married into the family and someone finally realized what she meant."

Newt shook his head and looked at Hayley. "So you're a witch, too?"

"I guess so," Hayley replied. "I dint know about it 'til the letter came, an' Uncle Vernon ripped up the first one."

That seemed to shock them both. "Your uncle ripped up your letter?" Anathema asked.

Hayley nodded. "Aunt Petunia an' him don't like stuff like magic even if it's only on the telly. They won't let Dudley watch any of it. He was really mad when they dint buy 'im some videogame 'cos there was wizards in it."

Anathema was frowning. "Hayley," She said carefully, "Are your aunt and uncle often mean to you?"

"Not really anymore, 'cos they don't like Adam an' Aunt Petunia always lets me go out if he asks." For some reason, that made Newt and Anathema look at each other meaningfully, probably because _they'd_ been there too for whatever had happened yesterday. It seemed like _everyone_ else had been involved.

"What about before Adam?" Anathema pressed, and Hayley glanced down and fiddled with the hem of her shirt while she tried to think of an answer that wouldn't sound bad.

That, apparently, in of itself was bad enough for Anathema.

"Newt," She said in a very tight voice, "Stay here with Hayley. I'm going over to have a talk with her aunt and uncle."

"Oh. Alright." Newt watched with a strange sort of panicky look as Anathema strode out and slammed the door behind her. Hayley looked at him.

"Is she mad?" She asked quietly.

Newt looked at her, and something in his expression softened. "Not at you, Hayley. We'll just - er - sit tight and wait for her to get back. Would you like some more of this tea?"

* * *

When Anathema came back, she was holding a box of children's things. Mostly worn, oversized clothes.

Newt regarded it with surprise. "You took awhile," he said, not accusingly. "It's late. I let her sleep on the sofa, since she seemed rather tired."

"That's fine," Anathema said, still looking steaming mad. "She's not going back there, anyway."

"What?"

Anathema slammed the box down on the table and yanked out some of the clothes. "Look at this," She hissed. "It's her cousin's clothes. That's _all_ they gave her. And the only thing resembling toys I could find were a few broken army models and a used paint set with no paper in sight."

Newt swallowed, glancing over at the girl on the sofa. "She seems alright."

Anathema snorted. "She's probably just good at faking it. _God,_ from what I could tell when I confronted the aunt over it, we're lucky she got fed well enough day to day. Apparently they used to make her do the cooking."

"Used to?"

"From what I can tell, they started treating her a lot nicer when they moved to Tadfield."

 _Adam_ hung between them silently. Anathema continued once the pause for the name had moved on. "In fact," Her voice was practically a hiss. "They started treating her _so_ well that they gave her her own bedroom."

Pause.

"No," Newt said, hung on the edge of disbelief that no one could be _that_ mean to a child. "You're not-"

"She's staying here."

Newt didn't argue. If he'd been braver, he might have been tempted to go over to the Dursley's as well and yell just as much as Anathema had.

Hayley, being asleep, had no idea how much her life had just changed.


	2. Hogwarts, A Few Friends, and Mishaps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost had Hayley stay with the Youngs, and be around for the whole Apocalypse bit, but there were Adam and three Them, and Death and three Horsepersons, so I really couldn't add in someone else without inventing a third Horseman. Woman. Whatever.
> 
> Also, Anathema would be a way cooler mom. I'm divided over whether or not she and Newt should get together.
> 
> Also, Hayley is not going to be exactly like Book Harry, mainly because of Adam. Hayley is someone who hasn't had to do as much work for the Dursleys, has had a steady group of friends who support her for at least half her life, and therefore is more confident in herself [as well as her gender] and more prepared to take no crap from people. Therefore, I think it's realistic that she gets a bit of a temper when her gender is questioned.
> 
> This might be a good time to mention that I also headcannon PoC Hermione and Harry/Hayley. Hermione is black, and I picture Hayley as Indian [as in the continent, not native Americans].

* * *

When the woman came from Hogwarts, a beaming Hayley was having breakfast at Jasmine Cottage and Newt still hadn't left.

Anathema was still dealing with abandoning her profession as a Professional Descendant, but she was admitting that she'd have been a lot more nervous around Hayley if she'd learned [or managed to translate the pertinent prophecy] that she was going to _adopt_ the young girl.

Well, if she ever managed to make it official, that was. It wasn't like Anathema knew how to go about adopting someone, but she had the feeling the Dursleys wouldn't try to stop her.

The knock on the door surprised her, and when Anathema went to open it the fact that the woman who had knocked was wearing robes surprised her even more.

"Good morning," The woman said politely, with a faint Scottish accent. "I'm looking for Har - Hayley Potter."

The stumble didn't surprise Anathema, because the Dursleys had insisted on referring to Hayley as 'Harry' and called her 'boy' a lot, and she could guess what that meant. She'd spoken to Pepper's mother a few times on the subject, when they had run into each other. "She's in here," Anathema replied, standing out of the way. "I'm surprised you found the right place."

"I was informed by the Dursleys that Hayley was staying here for the forseeable future." The woman pinned Anathema with her gaze. "Might I ask why?"

"How about you introduce yourself, first?" Anathema retorted, aware that she now had both Newt's and Hayley's attention. Their conversation had trailed off the minute the woman stepped through the door.

She seemed to remember herself. "My apologies. My name is Professor McGonagall." She held out a hand. "I was sent to fetch Hayley on behalf of Hogwarts."

"Fetch me?" Hayley said. Her hands were holding onto the table's edge as if she thought she was going to be dragged out of the house. "What for?"

"To go shopping for school supplies, of course."

"Hold on." Anathema said, shutting the door. "Slow down for a second. Aren't you here to explain things to her?"

McGonagall's expression became confused. "I was under the impression that her aunt and uncle would have told her about her parents."

"My parents?" Hayley's voice was quiet, but her eyes were sharp and excited and fixed on McGonagall. "You know about them?"

McGonagall frowned. "What did your aunt and uncle tell you about your parents?"

Hayley lowered her eyes. "Not nice things, really. They probably lied. Did they?" She looked back up. "They said they died in a car crash."

At that McGonagall's face tightened, and Anathema recognized the face of an adult who is doing their best not to swear due to the fact that there are children in the room.

"Why don't we sit down," Anathema suggested, "And you can explain things properly."

* * *

Jasmine Cottage, half an hour later, was mostly silent, and there was another cup of tea gently steaming on the table. Newt seemed to have gone into shock, and Hayley had wound up pressed into Anathema's side looking for comfort, which the older witch provided. God knew the girl needed it. McGonagall looked upset as well, but she was better at not showing it.

Hayley gave a great sniff and rubbed her nose, then sat up like she was making an effort to pretend she was fine. "So I'm famous 'cos of something I don't remember doing?" She asked.

"I'm afraid so," McGonagall replied gently. "There is, however, a bit of a problem."

"What?"

"The wizarding world is rife with stories of the Boy-Who-Lived." McGonagall noticed Hayley wince. "I must admit I was expecting a letter addressed to Harry, not Hayley."

"I'm a girl," Hayley said, petulance and anger mixed together. She hadn't hung out with Pepper for half her life without developing a little bit of a temper. "Just 'cos I've got boy parts don't mean I'm not a girl."

"I understand." McGonagall nodded. "However, some...may not. I doubt the public will allow their minds to be changed easily."

"I'll make 'em," Hayley declared, and McGonagall smiled.

"You're very like your mother," She said fondly. "Lily was always very excited, and didn't let prejudice stand in her way."

"Prejudice?" Anathema questioned.

"Yes," McGonagall nodded. "The magical world doesn't generally share in some of your Muggle prejudices, but they are quite concerned with magic and blood, and Lily came from a nonmagical family - it happens sometimes, and those students are usually looked down upon, unfortunately."

"What about my dad?" Hayley asked.

"He came from a magical family." McGonagall told her, expression softening. "You look quite like him, you know. But with your mother's eyes."

There was silence for a moment, while Hayley looked down at the table and the three adults pretended that they didn't notice her using her shirt to wipe her eyes.

"What about Hogwarts?" Hayley asked eventually.

"Hogwarts is a school for young witches and wizards to learn magic," McGonagall said with a practiced air. "I teach there, as Transfiguration professor."

"What's tra - transfigger-?"

"Transfiguration."

"Yeah." Hayley looked honestly interested, since this was the most fantastical thing she'd ever been involved in, aside from the stories Adam had given Them from the _Aquarian Age_ magazines Anathema had given him.

"It is the art of changing one object into another." And McGonagall took out her wand, pointed it at her empty teacup, and turned it into a button.

The other three stared.

"Whoa." Hayley was visibly impressed, as the teacup-turned-button lay there looking like something that had fallen off a designer jacket.

"That's a very interesting form of magic," Anathema said, also impressed. "Is that a wand?"

"It is. Every witch and wizard owns one." McGonagall tucked it away. "I am guessing that Hayley has already informed both of you about magic?"

"Oh, yes." Newt said. "Anathema already knew."

McGonagall didn't raise an eyebrow at the strange name. "Are you a witch, then?"

"Oh yes, but not your kind, I don't think." Anathema had picked up the button and was examining it closely. "I work with other things. Until recently it was mostly figuring out prophecies."

"Ah." It was clear that McGonagall was not the sort who set much stock by prophecies. "Why did you stop, may I ask?"

"I ran out of prophecies," Anathema said, "And I decided I didn't want to waste time with the new ones that arrived. They were always right, you see, and the book had been passed down - I didn't want to spend the rest of my life being a Descendant."

McGonagall looked as if she didn't know what to make of the story, but she didn't comment, apparently not wishing to be rude. "If you don't mind, then," She replied, "I really should be taking Hayley to get her school supplies - term starts next week."

"Can't Anathema come?" Hayley asked plaintively, and McGonagall hesitated.

"I don't see why not-"

"Great!" Hayley jumped up. "Come _on -_ we'll get to see _magic stuff!"_

* * *

Anathema was only a little bit impressed by Diagon Alley.

Really.

Hayley had absolutely no qualms about staring at everything openmouthed, trying to take it all in - Newt was keeping a tight hold on her hand, since he got the feeling that Hayley was liable to wander off at any minute to get a closer look at something, and he didn't think even McGonagall would be able to find her easily in _this_ mess.

Shopping was a blur of fancy clothes and required books and all sorts of things, and it was only afterward in the Leaky Cauldron [what a name for a pub] that any of them managed to get a breather. Hayley was still marvelling over the wand she'd bought [holly and phoenix feather] and Newt was still attempting to process everything he'd seen, including the fact that magical people still used gold and silver instead of pound notes [actual gold coins!].

McGonagall handed over what looked like a train ticket, saying "The Hogwarts Express leaves at eleven o'clock on September First, so make sure you're on time."

"Where is Hogwarts?" Anathema asked, having been innately curious about this magic and borrowed several galleons from Hayley to buy several books on runes and things like that.

"In Scotland, an isolated area where we could be assured no non-magical people would be able to find it," McGonagall replied, standing up. "I'm afraid I must be heading back, the days before the beginning of the school year are always the busiest. I will see you on September first, then."

"Good-bye," Hayley said absently, looking over the ticket and tilting it to make the gold leaf flash in the light.

She couldn't _wait_ to tell Them.

* * *

Them came into Jasmine Cottage with Dog that afternoon when Hayley got back, and they didn't leave until a few hours after they probably should have been in bed, poring over Hayley's new textbooks and raptly listening to everything she'd learned, including the story McGonagall had given her about her parents, however difficult it was to tell.

"That's _wicked,"_ Pepper said. "You really _are_ a super-hero."

Hayley made a face. "The thing is, they all think I'm a boy 'cos I didn't get to tell nobody I wasn't."

"You can tell 'em when you get to the school," Wensley suggested.

"I can't tell 'em all at _once._ There's a _bunch_ of 'em. It's a _school."_ Hayley protested. "There's too many other witches an' wizards."

"What's the difference?" Brian asked.

Hayley paused. "I think wizards are boys an' witches are girls an' that's it."

"There can't be that many of 'em," Wensley said sensibly, "Otherwise the government would've found out about 'em 'fore now, 'cos of how they know about everythin' they're always hushing up."

"There can if it's a school for all of 'em in Britain," Hayley retorted.

"Why's there just one for all England?" Adam questioned, frowning. "Doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't they have local schools or somethin' like that?"

"I think it's to keep regular people from knowin' about 'em," Hayley explained. "'Cos it's all 'cos of the witch hunts that they made 'em all secret in the first place, an' they never stopped bein' secret. An' the perfessor said that the Prime Minister _does_ know about 'em, but he's the only one."

"What about the Queen?" Pepper wanted to know, and Hayley paused, trying to find an answer.

"Well, she _must_ know too, 'cos of on account of her bein' the Queen." The rest of Them nodded, satisfied with that answer. Obviously, the Queen knew everything - she was the Queen.

"But how does everybody get there everyday?" Brian said petulantly. "It's too far to go every mornin'."

"It's a boarding school." Hayley informed him. "I get Christmas break an' summer break but I stay there most of the time."

The Them looked at her, appalled.

"You'll be there all year?" Adam said incredulously. Hayley, picking up on the mood, began to fiddle with her shirt hem again.

"Well, yeah. I mean, it's the only magic school I can go to, unless I want to go to America or som'where like that." She replied, not meeting any of their slightly betrayed gazes. "An' - an' I can write, 'cos I've got Hedwig. So I can still _talk_ to you. I just - won't be here, that's all."

She looked at them imploringly. "It'll - it'll be alright, won't it? I've got to learn magic, the perfessor says, or else it'll get out'a control."

"We'll miss you, is all." Pepper said quietly.

"I'll be back for Christmas," Hayley offered again. "An' I can tell you everythin' that happened, an' show you magic."

They brightened at that. "You've got to remember to write, then," Adam instructed. "Or else we won't write either."

"An' don't go off replacin' us with magical people," Brian chimed in.

"How could anyone replace Adam?" Hayley asked, and they all looked at each other and shrugged.

* * *

Anathema and Newt, who was appearing to be a permanent resident of Jasmine Cottage [which Anathema now owned, thanks to Hayley's insistence and donation towards buying it] were the ones who took Hayley to King's Cross on the first of September.

"You've got everything, right?" Newt asked her anxiously.

"Yes," Hayley replied in a groan, fidgeting but keeping a tight hold on Anathema's hand. She'd never been to King's Cross before, and the sheer amount of people and noise could be overwhelming for someone who was used to a tiny country town.

"You've asked her that ten times, Newt," Anathema said in exasperation. "We made sure to pack everything. You helped. She's got snacks for the train ride. Nothing's missing!"

"I was just making sure," Newt protested. "How are we supposed to get onto this platform again?"

"It's nine and three-quarters," Hayley spoke up, ticked clutched in her other hand.

"That's not a platform," Newt said automatically, garnering a dirty look from Anathema. "I mean, I'm sure it is, otherwise it wouldn't be on the ticket-"

"They've probably got a secret platform somewhere," Anathema interrupted him sensibly. "If they've gone to all this effort to stay hidden for so long, then they're not going to use a platform in plain sight."

"Why put the train in King's Cross, then?" Newt muttered, but he was already thinking about the problem. "Maybe it's between two platforms?" He suggested, raising his voice.

Hayley shrugged. "Maybe."

"Well, let's check." Anathema managed to pull them through the crowd towards platforms nine and eleven, stopping in front of the abandoned ticket booth which sat at the barrier in between them. "This looks as likely as not, right?"

"Right," Newt said nervously. "Er, what happens if we're wrong?"

"Then I suppose we look like idiots and all the people around us take notice, and possibly we are escorted out of the station for causing a disturbance if we mess up badly enough," Anathema said matter-of-factly. "Possibly they might take offense to us nearly revealing the secret."

"Ah." Newt swallowed nervously. "Perhaps we should-"

"Excuse me?"

The three of them turned around to see a redheaded woman with a flock of similarly redheaded children trailing behind her.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," She said, smiling. "First year at Hogwarts, then? It's always a bit tricky to find the platform if you don't already know where it is."

"Oh, you know where it is?" Anathema brightened. "That's certainly made things easier."

"First one?" The woman asked kindly, extending a hand. "I remember that, although it was easier since I went to Hogwarts myself. I'm Molly Weasley, by the way."

"Anathema." She took the hand and shook it. Ms. Weasley didn't blink at the odd name.

"It's simple, actually, you're got to go through the barrier between nine and ten. Percy - Percy, there you are, why don't you demonstrate?" The oldest boy, who had a cage with a disgruntled-looking horned owl in it and a silver badge on his sweater, glanced to either side of him and then set off at a brisk walk. Hayley watched with wide eyes as he didn't slow down, approaching the solid-looking brick barrier and then _going straight through it._

"Wow."

Ms. Weasley smiled. "Magic's always amazing the first time, isn't it? Here, Fred, George, you next-"

"He's not Fred, I'm Fred," One boy protested, the identical one next to him shaking his head.

"Honestly, you call yourself our mother."

"Well then George, you go." Ms. Weasley sighed.

George pushed his cart up, looked over at his mother, and grinned. "Only joking - I am Fred!" He took off at a run for the barrier and vanished through it before Ms. Weasley could say anything. His twin followed almost immediately.

"Does that happen often?" Anathema asked curiously.

"Only too often." Ms. Weasley replied, nodding and not seeming particularly annoyed.

"But - hold on," Newt interrupted, his hand squeezing briefly around Hayley's in a nervous habit. "Doesn't anyone notice you just vanishing through a brick pillar?"

Ms. Weasley shook her head. "No, the Ministry's put Notice-Me-Not charms all over the area, so if anyone decides to come through King's Cross they don't have to worry about being spotted by Muggles."

"Muggles? Oh, right, nonmagical people." Anathema nodded. "All these new terms can be difficult to keep track of."

"I'm sure." Ms. Weasley nudged the fourth, and last, boy forward. "Here, Ron, it's your turn - this is Ron, by the way. It's his first year too."

"Hi," Ron said awkwardly. Hayley nodded, giving him a sort of aborted wave and a small grin.

"And this is Ginny, my youngest, it won't be her turn for Hogwarts until next year." Ms. Weasley smiled at the young girl at her side, who pouted.

"I still want to go _now."_

"Wait 'till you're eleven, love. Would you like to give it a try?" Ms. Weasley asked Hayley. "It's not difficult, going through, but if you're nervous you can do it at a bit of a run, and your parents can come through as well."

"Oh, we're not actually-" Anathema elbowed Newt sharply in the side and made his sentence cut off abruptly in a pained squeak.

Hayley frowned at the brick barrier, then took a deep breath and took off running.

She squeezed her eyes shut when it felt like she was getting too close, and then something passed over her with a chill that made goosebumps rise on her skin.

She opened her eyes and stopped running.

There was a gleaming red train sitting on the tracks in front of her eyes - there was a whole secret platform in front of her, and there were people absolutely everywhere who looked just like the magical people she'd seen in Diagon Alley. There were cages with owls and people in fancy, sweeping robes and Hayley _stared._

Someone _oofed_ out a breath as they nearly ran into Hayley, and she turned around to see Newt looking as though he'd been recently traumatized by something.

"Let's not do that any more than we absolutely have to," he said. "And how about we get out of the way, so Anathema doesn't run into us."

He turned out to be right in his caution, for once - no sooner had they moved Hayley's cart out of the way than Anathema burst out of what looked like a brick wall, grinning wildly.

"This is fabulous," she said, jumping nimbly out of the way as Ron came running through after her. "Come on, Hayley, I want to see everything."

There was a boy they walked past who had a box which, when opened, made a lot of the people standing around him and peering in curiously scream when a long brown leg was poked over the edge. Newt had hurriedly pushed them past the group while Anathema teased him, and they eventually found the luggage compartment near an only slightly less busy area of the platform.

Anathema helped Hayley lift it in, and then turned to look at the younger girl. "Alright, remember what I said about sitting with other people?"

"I don' have to sit with 'em if they make me uncomfor'ble and I should try to make friends," Hayley replied in a practiced manner. "An' I'm not s'posed to eat any of my food too early or else I'm gonna be hungry later."

"Great." Anathema bent down to give her a hug, which Hayley returned after a moment. "Don't forget Hedwig on the train."

"Okay." Hayley picked up her owl's cage from where she'd put it down on the platform. Then, hesitating for a moment, she darted towards Newt and hugged him tightly, too. "Bye."

Newt was still in surprise for a second, then reached down and patted Hayley's back awkwardly. "We'll see you at Christmas, then," he said. "Er, have a good time."

"I will." Hayley was nervous, but so long fending for herself while living with the Dursleys made her shoot off and into the nearest train carriage without hesitating.

Newt and Anathema watched her go. "She will be alright," Newt said, "Won't she?"

"Definitely," Anathema replied. "Anyone who tries to make it otherwise is going to have their work cut out for them."

* * *

Hayley had only been in her compartment for a little bit before the train started moving, the noise of the engine reverberating through the floor and making it vibrate. Hayley pressed her hands to the window, peering out to see if she could spot Anathema or Newt one last time, but the crowd was a blur of colors and waving parents and eventually they left the station and the only view she had was of London.

Hayley sat back in the seat, a tiny bit sad that she wouldn't be seeing the only two adults who had ever treated her that well until Christmas, but that was quickly overcome by mixed nervousness and excitement.

She was going to _magic_ school - she'd read through all her books already, or most of them at least, and Hayley wondered what the classes themselves would be like. They didn't have any books for maths or anything on the list, and she wondered if they were going to learn them a different way, because it didn't make sense that they would just _not have_ those classes.

Then again, from what she'd seen of the magical world so far, it didn't make a whole lot of sense anyway.

There was a knock at the door, and Hayley turned to see the boy from the platform - Ron. She got up and opened the door. "Hi."

"Hi." He seemed wrong-footed. "Uh, my mum said I should see if you were - you know. Finding a compartment alright and stuff."

"I'm good." Hayley saw him shifting awkwardly - and there was a backpack sitting on the floor behind him. "You can come in, if you want to. I don't have anyone to talk to, really."

Ron visibly brightened. "Thanks!" Hayley backed out of the way and he tossed his backpack onto the seat opposite her, nearly forgetting to close the door again. "What was your name?"

"I'm Hayley," Hayley offered, and then remembered that she was supposed to give her last name, too. "Ah, Potter. Hayley Potter."

"What, really?" Ron turned around, startled. "I thought Harry Potter was the only one who lived!"

Hayley scowled, put her hands on her hips, and gave Ron her best Look. It was quite impressive, if she said so herself - a combination of Pepper and Aunt Petunia - and Ron, being eleven, was understandably put off by it and sat down rather hurriedly.

"That's _not_ my name," Hayley said shortly. "I don't care what anyone's heard 'bout the stupid Boy-Who-Lived, I'm _not_ a boy."

Ron nodded, and then frowned. "So you are him?"

" _Her."_

"Right. Her." Ron corrected himself hurriedly. "So, er, does that mean you've got the scar?"

Hayley frowned. "Yes," She said grudgingly, shoving her bangs up.

Ron leaned forward in interest, then looked disappointed. "It's not much of a scar," he said. "It's all white and faded."

"That's what _happens_ to scars," Hayley informed him. "They get all faded an' stuff. It's been eleven years."

"Mum has a friend who's still got a scar from the war." Ron objected.

"Well, mine i'n't a very _deep_ scar. That's why it's all whitish." Hayley sat back, letting her hand drop. "An' I don't see where you get off, tellin' me what my scar's s'posed to look like."

Ron, at this point, looked a bit chastised. "I guess," He said. "How come everyone thinks you're a boy?"

"'Cos they all assumed it, an' no one ever bothered to ask me," Hayley said firmly, and then changed the topic. "You've got a magic family, right?"

"Yes." Ron seemed moody about this, for some reason. "I've got five brothers and they're all older."

"I'd've liked a sibling," Hayley said. "'Cept a girl, 'cause the only girl friend I've got is Pepper."

"The only sister _I've_ got is Ginny, and she's alright," Ron said, cheering up a little. "She'll freak when I tell her that it was you on the platform, she's always had a bit of a crush on - er-"

"Really?" Hayley asked, taken aback [and a tiny bit flattered].

"Well-" Now Ron looked embarrassed. "More like the idea of - er - you, I guess. You are kind of famous."

"I know," Hayley told him. "McGonagall told me."

"Who's McGonagall?"

"She teaches at the school. She came t'give me my letter an' take me to get my supplies." Hayley told him.

"Couldn't your guardians have taken you?" Ron asked.

"They dint know how to get to Diagon Alley, 'cos of them not bein' magical," Hayley explained. "Well, Anathema is, but she dint know either 'cos she'd never been to Diagon Alley. I dint even know about magic 'till I got the letter."

"Really?" Ron seemed gobsmacked by this. "But you're _Har-_ er, Hayley Potter! How come no one ever told you?"

"Well, I lived with my aunt an' uncle first, an' they dint tell me 'cos they dunt like magic, an' then Anathema dint know I was famous at all so she coul'n't tell me." Hayley explained, and she and Ron spent a long time talking and going over the intricacies of the magical world. To Ron, they were some of the most mundane things in his life, but to Hayley they were strange and new and exciting.

They were only interrupted when a woman knocked on the door, pushing a cart full of wrapped packages and jars with colorful objects in them. "Anything off the trolley, dears?" She asked. "Getting hungry? It's nearly dinnertime."

Curious, Hayley stood up as Ron muttered something about sandwiches. "What've you got?"

The witch genially pointed out the different candies and more dinner-suitable stuff they carried. "Most students bring something to eat," She told Hayley, "So we haven't got a lot of that, and the ones who don't really just buy candy anyway, but I usually keep an eye on the ones who really need it."

Hayley retreated to her seat with a few packages of cauldron cakes and something called chocolate frogs, which Ron stared at longingly.

Hayley took pity on him. "Here." She threw two of them at Ron, tucking a third into her backpack to send to Adam later and keeping the last one for herself.

"Thanks!" Ron tore open one package right away, and a brown thing leaped out. He caught it and bit into it, making the frog-shaped candy stop moving, and then noticed Hayley staring. "What?"

"They're not _real_ frogs, are they?" She stared doubtfully at the package she'd been about to open.

"'Course not." Ron looked affronted. "They're enchanted, is all. You've got to bite the head off to get it to stop moving."

Hayley's doubts vanished once his reassurance came, and she barely managed to catch the frog when it came shooting out of the packaging. The chocolate was good, and she finished it quickly.

"What's the card?" Ron asked, once she had done so. "They come with collecting cards."

Hayley pulled it out of the packaging. "Dumbledore," She read aloud, and Ron made a disappointed noise. "Hey, it says he's headmaster of Hogwarts!"

"I know _that,"_ Ron said. "I've got six of him. Here, you can have this one, too, I've already got her."

'Her' turned out to be Circe, who Hayley thought was fascinating, and she pored over the four cards [Ron had let her keep his two, since he had both of them already] until the door opened for the third time that day.

A frizzy-haired girl stood there, already in her uniform. "Have you seen a toad?" She asked without any preamble. "A boy named Neville's lost one."

"No," Hayley said. "Who're you?"

The girl hesitated for a moment. "I'm Hermione Granger," She said. "And, you are?"

"Hayley Potter."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Really? But I've read a few books and in all the ones that mention the Potters they say Harry, not Hayley."

Ron was making slightly frantic _no_ motions with his hands, but Hermione either didn't notice [unlikely] or was ignoring him. Hayley narrowed her eyes at the girl.

"I think I know what my own _name_ is," She replied testily. "An' I don't know who's been writin' books 'bout me, but _I_ dint say they could an' they have to have permission to do that."

"They couldn't have written it without permission," Said Hermione, but she sounded slightly doubtful.

"Well, I _dint_ give them permission," Hayley shot back. "So anythin' you read's probably wrong."

Hermione looked uncomfortable. "Why does it say you're a boy in them, then?"

"'Cos no one ever _asked_ me if I really was." Hayley crossed her arms. "I'm a _girl."_

Luckily, Hermione finally seemed to notice Ron and left the conversation at that. "Alright, but you should probably change into your uniforms. We're nearly there, I went up and asked the conductor." She closed the door with a snap and walked off down the corridor.

"Who brings a _toad_ as their pet?" Hayley asked Ron, grimacing. "I thought that was a joke."

Ron only shrugged.

* * *

Hogwarts was better than anything Hayley had imagined.

The first years had been herded down to the lakeside and into boats, and when they turned the bend around the cliff that gave them their first view of Hogwarts Hayley was sure her jaw was about to drop off.

It was _beautiful_ and at the same time magical, the castle's lit windows looking like orange stars, since the castle itself was nearly invisible against the night sky. The large man in the lead boat - Hayley had heard someone call him 'Hagrid' - shouted a warning for them to duck as they passed through a gap in an ivy-covered wall and drew into a tiny quay.

"Everyone out - watch yer step, it can be a bit rough - oi, you, this yer toad?"

"Trevor!"

Hagrid led them up a winding path to the castle, which had a pair of huge wooden double doors. He raised one hand and knocked.

* * *

"Potter, Hayley."

_"Wait, what?"_

_"Potter?"_

_"Did she say Hayley, or Harry?"_

Whispers trailed behind Hayley as she mounted the steps to where McGonagall stood, waiting, with the Hat in one hand. She'd liked the song it sang, but Hayley was still nervous as McGonagall placed it on her head.

It slipped down and was only stopped by her ears, leaving Hayley to look at nothing but darkness, though she'd been sure that at least half the Hall was trying to get a good look at her. A voice whispered, making her jump.

_Well, now, miss. You've had an exciting time of things._

Hayley realized that it was the Hat speaking. _You're supposed to sort me, right?_

 _Indeed. Now, let's see...where to put you?_ It felt like Hayley's hair was being ruffled. _Plenty of courage, and a very fierce loyalty to your friends. That will do well for you later in life. And ambition, of course...oh, but you still see yourself as with your friend Adam? Hmm. Difficult.  
_

Hayley's fingers were curled around the edge of the stool. _Couldn't you just sort me?_ She thought. People were beginning to stare. Was it supposed to take this long?

_It varies from person to person, young lady, now let me think. Hmm...Slytherin might do well for you...ah, but not in the long run of things. That just leaves-_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The table on the left burst into furious applause, as McGonagall removed the hat and Hayley ended up being pulled into a seat next to Hermione from earlier. On her other side was a redheaded prefect who she thought had been with Ms. Weasley.

"Thanks," She said to Hermione somewhat breathlessly.

"You looked a bit overwhelmed," Hermione said, shrugging, but smiling back.

The rest of the Sorting seemed to pass in a blur, as opposed to the three hours it had felt like it took for Hayley's name to be called. Once a girl named Rose had been sorted into Ravenclaw, Dumbledore stood up at the teacher's table - Hayley recognized him from the chocolate frog card.

"Welcome!" He said. "I trust you all had a pleasant ride here - but before our feast begins, I would like to say a few words - nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

He sat back down, and with a wave of his hand the tables were suddenly covered in food, so many different dishes that Hayley was sure she'd never seen half of them before. A tidal wave of chatter had risen as soon as Dumbledore finished, and Hayley turned to Hermione.

"He really jus' said that, right?"

Hermione made a face. "He is supposed to be a bit - er - eccentric."

"I think he's a little more than _that."_ Hayley served herself heaping portions from the nearest plate, having realized that everyone else was doing the same.

Ron, who had sat across from them, leaned over the table to speak to her. "Mum says he was always like that," He said, as if imparting a great secret. "He was headmaster when _she_ went to school here, too."

Hermione scoffed. "Well, he _is_ rather old. I'm not surprised."

The rest of the evening passed in a warm haze and Hayley thought she might have missed some sort of speech, and then the table was getting up and first-years were being hustled into a line and led though a veritable maze of staircases and winding corridors until they reached a portrait of a large lady in a dress.

"Password?" The lady asked, turning to look at them.

"Caput Draconis," the redheaded prefect told her, and the portrait swung open to reveal a hole they all scrambled through. It led to a red-themed common room, with a fireplace surrounded by comfy-looking chairs and two doorways leading away from the room.

"Those staircases lead to your dorm," The prefect told them. "Boys on the left, girls on the right. Your things have already been brought up. I suggest you all get some sleep - you'll have a busy day tomorrow."

Hayley turned to the right, intending to do exactly that, but someone called across the room.

"Oi, he said boys' dorms are to the _left."_

Hayley turned around. The group of first-year boys had paused at the doorway, and the one who had spoken was a fair-skinned boy with an Irish accent.

"Come on, then." He said.

"I'm not a boy," Hayley told him.

"But you're Harry Potter," he said, as if it should be obvious. "You're the _Boy_ who lived."

Hayled glared with all the fierceness she could muster, and was gratified to see that he at least looked surprised. "I'm a _girl,_ stupid," She said scornfully. "My name's _Hayley._ Don't you _listen?"_

The boy scowled back at her. "Everyone knows it's the boy-who-lived, not the _girl-_ who-lived."

"Everyone else dunt know what gender I am better 'n me!"

"Alright, calm down," The prefect said, putting two hands out like he was getting ready to forcefully push Hayley and the boy away from each other. "Go to your dorms, all of you. You can settle this in the morning."

"Besides," A dark-haired boy added from behind the Irish one. "Boys can't get up into the girls dorms, so we'll see who's right in a minute."

Hayley glared, then turned around and stomped up the stairs to the girls' dorm with as much force as she could manage. Reaching the balcony that overlooked the common room, she leaned over the railing, looked straight at the shocked Irish boy, and stuck her tongue out.

Jerk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment if you liked it!


	3. First Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only reason these are going up so fast is because I already had them written out and in chapter format, so just so you know they're going to slow down considerably after this chapter.  
> I know it's a little rushed that all of first year was in one chapter, but I did say that it would be more one-shots than an actual story.

* * *

Somehow, the story of what had happened in the Gryffindor common room had made its way around the school by the next afternoon. Unsurprisingly, some people still refused to believe it, but at least they didn't say anything to Hayley's face.

It probably helped that if anyone mentioned it, Hayley gave them her best death glare until they dropped the topic.

It was pretty impressive, if she did say so herself.

Magic was fascinating, in all the different ways it manifested itself, and Hayley threw herself eagerly into learning about all of it. Hogwarts's classes were ten times more interesting than any science or math she learned at her old school, even if it _was_ a bit weird that they didn't teach any normal classes like English or science.

She'd written to Adam almost immediately, eager to tell him [and the others] everything about Hogwarts. He'd taken slightly longer to write back, his reply a rambling letter with the occasional bit of information about what was happening in Tadfield and greetings from the rest of Them.

Adam's writing was rambling and nonsensical, things all higgeldy-piggeldy, but it was so unquestionably Adam that Hayley loved the letters and the taste of home.

During the second week of school, they learned how to levitate things.

"Now, students, remember-" Flitwick, the Charms teacher who looked almost like the goblins in Gringotts bank, had a squeaky voice that made Hayley restrain giggles every time he spoke. "The spell is pronounce Win- _gar_ -dium levi- _o_ -sa. It would be unfortunate to end up like wizard Baruffio, who said 'eff' instead of 'ess' and ended up with a buffalo on his chest!"

The students obligingly giggled at the memory of the silly story he had told them a few days previously, then set about pairing up to try and levitate the feathers he'd given them. Hayley had been jealous of how easily he'd levitated them out to the desks, the simple fluid movement sending them flying out.

She ended up with a shy Ravenclaw who said her name was Cho, and they went about taking turns. Before either of them had managed to get it more than an inch above the desk, there was an excited shout from Flitwick.

"Wonderful! See here, everyone - miss Granger's done it!"

Hermione was sitting at the desk in front of him with her wand pointed at a feather only a few feet from the ceiling, looking rather pleased with herself. Ron, who was sitting next to her - they must have been partners - looked disgruntled to the point of disgust.

Hayley didn't know why he would be so annoyed by Hermione doing it right first. Cho hadn't seemed at all unhappy when Hayley had gotten the feather to move on the second try when it had taken her _four_ tries, but then again Cho and Ron were very different people.

Ron snorted as he fell in step next to Hayley once class had been dismissed. "It's levi- _o_ -sa, not levio- _sa_. She's a nightmare, honestly."

Hayley stared at Ron. "Where d'you get off bein' so rude?" She asked incredulously, but Ron didn't have time to do more than open his mouth when a sniffling figure barged past them, curly hair flying.

It was Hermione.

Hayley glared even more fiercely. "That was mean," She told him sharply, and turned to go after Hermione. She'd rather be friends with a bookworm than someone like that.

It reminded her too much of Dudley when people called other people names.

* * *

Hermione was hard to find, but Hayley found out from Parvati that she was in one of the girl's rooms on the second floor.

Hayley ignored the fact that she had classes next - Transfiguration was _definitely_ not as important as this. She knocked carefully on the door of the one occupied stall, hearing a gasp from inside. "Hermione?"

"Go away." Her voice was quavery.

Hayley shook her head, then realized Hermione couldn't see it and said "No." She put her bag on the ground, sitting on top of it. "Sorry 'bout Ron callin' you names. He's stupid. An' prob'ly just mad you did it better 'n him."

Hermione sniffed loudly. "He hates me," She said miserably. "I was just trying to tell him that he was _saying_ it wrong, and Flitwick _told_ us how badly that could go wrong, and I thought-" She broke off with another sniffle. "I shouldn't even have come here."

" _That's_ the stupidest idea I've ever heard," Hayley said vehemently, standing up again. "What would you've done if you dint come here? You'd've gotten no magic stuff an' you wouldn't be able to do anything cool - an' I wouldn't've met you," She added.

There was a moment of silence, and then the lock clicked and Hermione peered out, the door opening a crack. "You don't even know me," She said doubtfully.

"You dunt really know me either," Hayley reminded her cheerfully. "An' I dunt really know Ron either but he's still sorta my friend. He's just rude."

"You think I'm your friend?"

"Sure, why wouldn't you be?" Hayley asked, bemused. "You're nice an' you really are smart an' you're not friends with me just 'cause of my scar. An' bein' famous."

Hermione smiled, waveringly, and opened the door a little more. "Thanks," She said. "No one's ever really wanted to be my friend before."

"Too bad for them, then."

* * *

_Dear Adam,  
_

_There's a THREE-HEADED DOG in the school._

_I wonder if this is normal for magic schools, or is it just Hogwarts?_

_(Its name is Fluffy, according to Hagrid.)_

* * *

_Dear Hayley,  
_

_That sounds WICKED. You have got to take a picture. Do you have a camera? I'll send you mine as long as you send it back. With pictures, of course. Or is there a rule against that?_

_Wensley says to ask what kind of dog it is. Do you know?_

* * *

_Dear Adam,_

_Tell Wensley I was too busy running away from the THREE-HEADED DOG to figure out what kind it was. It looked a bit like a Rottweiler, though, except it was white. Or grey ish. It was at night so I can't say for sure. Anyway Hermione was with me and she noticed it was standing on something, so it's probably there to protect something. And get this - there was something stole from Gringotts the SAME DAY I was there! Maybe that's what the dog's protecting, do you think?_

* * *

_Dear Hayley,_

_Who's Hermione? Also Adam insisted that I send the camera along with this so you can take pictures for us. I can't wait to see you over break!  
_

* * *

_Dear Pepper,_

_Tell Adam thanks for the camera, and if I can figure out how to get the pictures to move I'll try. They do that here, but I don't know how._

* * *

It was a blustery, snowy day when Anathema picked Hayley up from the train station near Tadfield. Hayley had switched trains after getting off at King's Cross, elated at the feeling of being so self-reliant - as well as going home for Christmas and actually being _excited_ about it.

Anathema had her bike, Phaeton, with her. "Sorry about this," She said. "Newt's car broke again, so we're going to have to make the best of it."

It was snowing, but Hayley had a warm coat, someone else to carry the trunk for her and half a year's worth of news that hadn't fit into letters. Anathema kept interrupting to ask about the magic, how it worked, to which Hayley usually responded with a shrug or a "I dunno." and, on rare occasion, a tidbit of information she'd picked up while combing through books and looking for Nicholas Flamel.

"D'you know who Nicholas Flamel was?" She asked Anathema on impulse.

"Flamel?" Anathema thought for a moment, leaning Phaeton up against the side of the cottage. "Sure. He was an alchemist, wasn't he?"

Hayley practically jumped. "You know who he is? I was just askin' 'cause I dint know!"

"I'm sure we can look it up." They had a small computer in a back room, which Newt was strictly forbidden from touching. He mostly kept to that, unless he really couldn't help himself, and then no one would be able to use it for at least a week.

"So?" Hayley asked, practically vibrating with excitement as Anathema sat down at the computer. She dragged over a stool, sitting on it with her legs tucked under her as Anathema typed in 'Nicholas Flamel'.

"Yep," She said when the search results came up. "It says he was French, and 'developed a reputation' for having discovered the Philosopher's Stone." She looked down at Hayley. "I'll assume that's code for 'Muggles aren't allowed to know it's true, but it is'. Does that help?"

"What's the Philos'pher's Stone s'posed to do?" Hayley scooted closer, nearly crowding Anathema out of her seat.

"It's a stone that supposedly can make someone immortal." Anathema looked down when she felt Hayley freeze. "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Hayley." Hayley looked down at Anathema's reproachful tone. "Is something wrong with you?"

"No."

"Is it at school?"

"...Yes."

Anathema, at times, could be a remarkably good judge of a situation. "How about I make some hot cocoa and you can explain why it's so important that you know who Nicholas Flamel is?"

* * *

Hayley returned to school with a wealth of information on the ancient alchemist and a severe [and, Newt hoped, paternal] warning _not_ to get into any trouble she couldn't handle.

It would probably be a lie to say she'd actually avoided trouble.

She'd _tried._ She'd listened to their warning. It just seemed like thing weren't supposed to go peacefully for her.

Besides, a dragon was way too cool to pass up.

* * *

_Dear Adam,_

_You'll never believe what the gamekeeper hatched in his cabin over the weekend..._

* * *

If only they hadn't gotten detention for it.

* * *

The Forbidden Forest loomed ahead of them, making Ron shuffle behind Hagrid slightly. Hayley couldn't deny that she was nervous, too - the forest looked scary enough during the day, shadowed where she felt like it really shouldn't be. Malfoy lagged behind all of them.

"Come on, kid, let's jus' get it over with." Hagrid said. "I admit I wasn't lookin' fer student help, but I'll take what I can get."

"What're we helpin' you with?" Hayley asked, walking close to Hagrid. His size was a comforting presence in the darkness.

"Somethin's been attackin' the unicorns," Hagrid rumbled. "There's one in there tha's badly hurt. You four are goin' to help me find it."

"Unicorns?"

Malfoy gave Hayley a haughty look. "Who gets so excited over unicorns?" He muttered distastefully, but his eyes were fixed on the forest.

Hagrid stopped at the edge of the woods. "Hayley, you an' me will team up wi' Ron. Draco, you an' Neville here will be another team. Think yeh can do tha'?"

"We get Fang," Malfoy said immediately.

Hagrid snorted. "Yeh can take him, but Fang's a bloody coward. He won't do yeh much good."

Fang drooled over Neville's cloak, but the boy looked too terrified to be bothered by it.

"Let's go."

* * *

_Dear Adam,_

_I finally went in the forbidden forest._

_It was kinda scary._

_We were looking for dead unicorns cause I got detention and had to help the gamekeeper. I found one with Malfoy [the you-know-what kid I told you about] but there was someone DRINKING IT'S BLOOD._ _  
_

_It left when it realized we were there but only after one of the centaurs chased it away. It tried to get at ME._

_I think it was Voldemort. The guy who killed my parents. That's what the centaur said anyway. His name's Firenzay. He helped me get back to the school._

_I know I told you someone's trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, and it must be him. Why else would Voldemort be here? He wants immortality._

_If anything else happens I'm going to be the only one who knows except Ron and Hermione._

_Please don't tell Anathema or Newt about any of this._

* * *

_Dear Hayley,_

_You'll do alright. Can't you tell anyone? I suppose they wouldn't believe you. We've dealed with worse before. And you've got magic. That counts._

_Pepper says if you meet him again punch him in the face._

_You're better than him so there's no way he can win. It's like in my superhero books. The bad guy seems like he has all the advantages but the good guy wins anyway cause he's the good guy. That's always how it works. So you can't not win._

* * *

_Adam,_

_Thanks. I don't know if book rules work in real life. But Voldemort's got magic too. And he's better than me._

* * *

_Hayley,_

_They couldn't write it in books if it weren't true._

* * *

Hayley played the flute with fumbling hands, knowing that if she paused, Fluffy might wake up and ruin everything. Hermione and Ron dragged the dog's paw out of the way, revealing the dirty trapdoor. Hermione managed to haul it open, wincing as it landed in the dog's paw, but Fluffy didn't stir.

Hayley tried to get their attention, but playing the flute one-handed was really hard and she ended up just kicking Ron in the shin.

"Ow!" Ron looked at her and noticed Hayley's quick, frantic gesture. "You want to go first?"

Hayley nodded, picking out 'Hot Cross Buns' for the millionth time. She'd never thought she'd be so glad for the recorder lessons her music teacher gave her glass in primary school.

Both of her friends stepped back from the trapdoor. Hayley quickly handed the flute over to Hermione, who looked a bit panicked, then took a deep breath and jumped.

* * *

Devil's Snare was less scary when parts of it had been burned to ash and it was frantically edging away from them, but Hayley's heart still felt like it was going to beat out of her chest as they left the room.

* * *

The Queen's arm came crashing down.

_"No! Ron!"_

* * *

The potion was ice in her veins as Hayley stepped through the fire, squeezing her eyes shut until she couldn't feel the heat of it anymore.

When she opened her eyes, her mouth dropped open too.

 _"You?"_ She'd been expecting Snape, but...

Quirrell smiled grimly. "Yes," he said, calm and perfectly composed, the exact opposite of his attitude all year. "Me. I wondered whether anyone would come...after all, who would suspect poor, st-stuttering Professor Quirrell?"

Hayley pressed her mouth into a hard line, the same way she'd seen Aunt Petunia do, in an attempt to be intimidating. "You're not gonna win," she said brazenly, Adam's words echoing in her ears.

"And why is that?" Quirrell looked smug. "Because you're here?"

"'Cause you won't."

Quirrell looked almost confused for a moment, and then another voice rasped out. "Let me speak to her..."

"Master, you are not strong enough!" Quirrel turned away from Hayley, bending his head and wringing his hands, suddenly nervous again. Hayley belatedly noticed that he was standing in front of the mirror of Erised.

Hayley looked away quickly. She didn't want to be trapped by the mirror again, however tempted she was.

"I am strong enough...for this..." The voice came again, drawing Hayley's attention back to Quirrell.

Hayley felt like she was rooted to the spot as Quirrell unraveled his turban, revealing what was underneath.

A pale, red-eyed face stared back at her.

"Potter," the face said, sneering the name. "See what I have become? Reduced to depending on another...because of you."

Hayley steeled herself and told herself that it was just a face - and people had glared at her before, even if they'd had normal colored eyes. "Yeah, 'cause of me," She said defiantly. "An' you're not gonna win this time, either. I told the teachers that someone was gonna steal the stone. They'll be here any minute."

"A bluff," Voldemort said dismissively. "What teacher would believe your story, girl? There is no one coming to save you."

"I dunt need t'be _saved_." Hayley retorted, clenching her hands. She just needed to distract him long enough for Hermione to get back up to the school, and then Hermione could tell someone. Surely a knocked-out Ron would be enough to convince the teachers.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with," Voldemort sneered. "You see the world as black and white...good and evil...there is no such thing! There is only _power..._ and those to weak to seek it."

"Well I think you're pretty evil." Hayley swallowed as Voldemort's eyes glared at her fiercely, but she didn't back down. "An' there's no Stone here for you t' steal, so you can't."

Voldemort laughed at that. "Foolish girl," he said. "What do you think the mirror is here for? _Quirrell!"_ Quirrell flinched as Voldemort snapped his name. "What do you see?"

"T-the stone, Lord." Quirrell said nervously. "I am presenting it to you...but it doesn't show where it's hidden-"

"Useless!" Voldemort snapped, making Quirrell flinch again. He looked angry, for someone who was just a face, slitlike nostrils managing to flare. His eyes moved back to Hayley. "Use the girl."

"What?" Hayley's response was automatic and shaky as Quirrell turned, wand in his hand.

"Come here," he snapped. Hayley stayed where she was.

The wand raised to point squarely at her. "Come _here,_ I said," Quirrell's voice was venomous, and Hayley pushed her nervousness down and slowly walked forward. Her gaze kept switching to the wand Quirrell was pointing at her.

"Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."

Hayley took a deep breath and looked.

Her parents stared back at her, like they had last time. She stood in between them - long hair, longer than hers was [she hadn't had the time to grow it out yet] and an outfit like the kind Pepper's mum was always trying to get Pepper to wear. Her mirror-mum smiled down at her, running her hand over Hayley's shoulder.

Mirror-Hayley was smiling, right at her. She held up her hand, and Hayley had to fight not to react as she realized what her mirror-self was holding.

_The ._

But why?

Still grinning, mirror-Hayley slipped the stone into the pocket of Hayley's pants. At the same time, Hayley felt a heavy weight press against her leg.

She didn't have the time to wonder how she'd just ended up with _the actual Philosopher's Stone in her pocket._

"Well?" Quirrell demanded, and she was shaken out of the trancelike state she'd ended up in.

"I - I'm talkin' to Dumbledore," She improvised wildly. "I'm holdin' a big trophy. I - I just won the House Cup."

Quirrell made an exasperated noise and shoved her out of the way. Hayley stumbled backwards, and she looked up at Voldemort's face, red eyes burning into hers.

"She lies..." the face hissed.

Hayley backed up towards the stairs as Quirrel turned around sharply. He gestured with his hand - _wandless_ \- and more fire sprung up, ringing the room and blocking any exit she might have had.

"Tell the truth!" He barked.

"I saw my parents!" Hayley snapped. "I dunt see why that's any of your business!"

"Ah," Voldemort's voice was low and smooth. "Of _course..._ you could have them back, you know. Think of what power magic has! I could do it...and all you would have to do is hand over that stone in your pocket."

Hayley made a decision.

"Go to Hell, you murderous old bastard." She didn't know what a bastard was, but Pepper had gotten in horrible trouble for calling their teacher one.

Voldemort's face contorted into a furious mask. _"Kill her!"_

Quirrell turned and lunged for her.

Hayley brought up her arms in front of her face as she was pushed to the ground, kicking Quirrell as hard as she could. She grabbed the hand that was reaching for her pocket and Quirrell yanked it back with a hiss.

His hand was _smoking,_ like she'd burned it, the skin pink and raw. Hayley took about three seconds to make another decision, hurling herself at Quirrell and reaching for his face.

"No!"

Hayley grabbed on tight and refused to let go.

She could feel something pulling in her, something deep and heavy, and whatever she was doing was pulling it up. Her vision was fuzzy but she could feel Quirrell fall and she stumbled back, barely registering the cloud of something black and ominous pulling itself out of Quirrell's head as she tripped over one of the stairs and stopped remembering anything at all.

* * *

Hayley didn't _like_ waking up in the hospital wing, but it was a lot better than having woken up still in the room with the mirror.

Dumbledore's conversation still mystified her - it hadn't made a lot of sense while they were having it, to be honest, and time hadn't helped (yet) - but Hayley was willing to try and forget about the craziness and just try to enjoy the end of the year.

Of course, the rest of the school didn't make it easier, so Hayley was partly relieved when the time came to board the Express and head back to London.

Partly, because the end of the year meant leaving Hogwarts.

The train ride was over far too quickly, and as they were on the platform waiting for the signal to go Hermione grabbed Hayley's arm.

"You won't forget to write, will you?"

"'Course not," Hayley scoffed.

"Me too," Ron added. "To both of you, if Errol can make it."

"I don't have an owl, so I'm expecting both of you to write so I can write back," Hermione instructed them.

"I _promise,_ Hermione," Hayley said, rolling her eyes. "We're goin' to see each other in a few months, anyways. A few letters won't make _that_ big a difference."

"Well, I've never had anyone to write to before."

Ron left, spotting his family down the platform, and Hayley and Hermione were left to go onto the Muggle side together.

"Isn't your family here?"

"I take another train to Tadfield," Hayley explained. "Newt's car isn't good with long distances."

Hermione accepted the explanation with a befuddled shrug. She hugged Hayley tightly, who hadn't been expecting it. "I'll see you soon, I hope."

"Yeah." Hayley squeezed back. "Me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!


	4. Summer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I got first year over with a little abruptly, but like I said, this is more going to end up as a series of one shots. Should the one shots be a little longer? Probably. Honestly with that chapter I was basically forcing myself to finish it and get it posted.
> 
> Also, yes, this chapter is MUCH shorter than usual. Normally I limit myself to ~4k words per chapter. Decent amount, right?
> 
> But this chapter was not coming along easily, so I figured I might as well give you guys an update and write the rest later.

* * *

The wind tugged at Hayley's cape, but she was too absorbed with the theolodite to notice.

Most people don't know what a theolodite is.

Most people who _do_ would have called what she and Anathema were using a very strange one. It had runes carved up and down the three legs, for one. For another, there was some sort of stone tied to a string that was hung directly in between the legs.

Hayley didn't mind the strangeness of it. She'd seen far stranger things; she and Anathema were both witches, after all, even if they were witches of a different caliber.

"You've got the map?" Anathema asked, turning towards Hayley, who nodded and held it up.

"It's got all the ley-lines already marked on it," she said, handing it over to Anathema. "Why d'we need t' re-mark them?"

"Because these markings are from when I first got here." Anathema spread out the map on the ground. "C'mere. See these lines?"

Hayley leaned over the map, frowning. "They're all curled. I thought ley lines were straight?"

"Generally, yes, they go straight from one place to another. But when I marked these they were all curled because of...well, I can't say for sure, but it was some force of nature." Anathema was on her knees, switching periodically between the theolodite and the map. "I'm re-checking it to make sure that they're all back in order."

"'Cause if they're out of order then it's bad?"

"It means something bad is happening, but yes. Usually it's environmental factors." Anathema glanced at Hayley. "You remember that bit in New Aquarian that you were reading, about chakras and such?"

"Yeah." Hayley wasn't sure if she believed it, but it had been interesting to read about.

"Imagine if the Earth had those. Ley lines would go out of order if something was wrong with the Earth's chakras."

"Oh." That made sense. Hayle looked at the map again, the previously drawn ley lines curling in a spiral that centered on Tadfield. She had a feeling she knew when Anathema had marked them down in the first place. "Can I help?"

"Sure."

Hayley wiggled in between Anathema's hands, squeezed between her and the theolodite, and dutifully helped mark down the current ley-line positions; in pencil only, to make it obvious which were the old ones and which were the new ones.

"Those look straight t' me," Hayley said once they had finished.

"Yup. Looks like you got it right," Anathema said. "Think you can pack up the theolodite?"

"Sure!" Hayley easily found the switch that collapsed the legs into a bundle, which was slightly bulkier than it would be without the crystal pendulum Anathema had added to it herself, and picked it up. The contraption was surprisingly light. "What now?"

"Now we get back on Phaeton and head home."

Hayley loved riding on the back of Anathema's old bike. It looked brand-new, even though Anathema said it had been handed down through the Device family for ages, and it even had a little puncture repair kit. There was a rack on the back which Hayley sat on, arms around Anathema's waist, feet tucked up and the theolodite tucked between the two of them, her cape flowing out behind her.

Anathema was a fan of letting gravity take over as much as possible whenever she rode her bike. She said it was a habit from before, when Phaeton was 'a piece of junk'. She'd said it had gotten repaired, but Hayley doubted the bike could have really been as bad as she said it was.

When they got to the bottom of the hill, there was a flash of lights and a screech of tires. Anathema hit the handle brakes so hard Hayley nearly fell off the bike.

"Watch where you're going!" Anathema hollered at the occupants of the car, then froze when one of them rolled down the window to wave. " _You_! That's the _second_ time you've nearly run me over in that bloody car of yours!"

"I had my lights on this time," A voice retorted defensively. It was a bit low and hissed oddly on the _s._

"To be fair, you were still going over the speed limit," another voice replied in a much posher accent. "Hello, Anathema! We were just going to drop by your place, and, er..."

It was at that point both men had gotten out of the car and noticed Hayley.

"You've got a kid," The dark-haired one said. "You move fast, don't you?"

"Oh, Crowley, really," the blond one said in exasperation. "She's much too old to be Anathema's. She looks like she's around Adam's age."

" _You_ know Adam?" Hayley asked. Who on Earth could these two be? Anathema recognized them, but Hayley had never seen them before in her life. The posh one's accent did sound strangely familiar, though...

"In a way," the posh one said after a moment. "May I ask your name?"

"Hayley."

"What do you want to talk to me for?" Anathema asked.

"It's been a year," Crowley said. "We thought we'd come by, see how things are going. It's not like we can visit _him_ unexpectedly."

Anathema hesitated for a few seconds. "Fine," she said grudgingly. "But you'd better not stir up trouble."

"I promise we're just here for a moment," the posh one said. "No trouble. Right, Crowley?"

Crowley muttered something that made the posh one sputter.

" _Crowley_ -"

"I'll go back and fix it when we leave! It's not like I can _help_ myself, Aziraphale."

"Oh, you most certainly can!"

Their argument faded away as Anathema got the bike moving again, whooshing away down the dirt road.

"Who were they?" Hayley asked, clinging on as the bike bumped over lumps and potholes.

"Friends, of a sort," Anathema said. "I met them last year. It was while you were out of town."

That explained a lot. Hayley wondered if they'd had anything to do with all the weird stuff that had been going on back then, and then her eyes widened as she finally remembered where she'd heard the posh one's - Aziraphale's - voice before.

He'd been the one who talked through her!

Hayley glanced up at Anathema, and decided not to tell her about it. She'd probably panic - and besides, it hadn't been that bad. He'd left almost immediately, and hadn't done anything other than panic Hayley a bit.

Still, she'd reserve judgement on whether he was alright or not.

* * *

Newt was already asleep, which wasn't much of a surprise, but Anathema let Hayley stay up as well. She managed to locate some mugs and had a pot of water boiling as she sat down at the table with the two men.

"So." Anathema said expectantly.

"I suppose everything's normal here?" Aziraphale said mildly.

"As normal as things get here," Anathema said. "Adam hasn't done anything odd, if that's what you're asking about. And the ley-lines are back in order."

"Oh, that's good."

Crowley snorted. "Ley-lines," he muttered disdainfully under his breath.

"Ley-lines are a serious business, dear, there's no need to be like that." Aziraphale leaned forward. "I suppose I can guess what had muddled them in the first place?"

"It's a bit obvious."

It wasn't to _Hayley._ She hated it when adults got like that, not bothering to explain things that they got but she didn't.

"And how's Adam?" Crowley pressed. "Nothing...unusual?"

"Believe me," Anathema said, "Recently, the only thing around here outside the normal, boring day-to-day stuff has been Hayley."

That made the two of them peer at Hayley with an unnerving intensity. She could tell Crowley was looking, too, even if he _was_ wearing sunglasses. Hayley scooted her chair slightly closer to Anathema.

Aziraphale seemed to realize it was making her uncomfortable and elbowed Crowley sharply, making the latter hiss like steam out of a teakettle. "We should be going," he said hurriedly. "Wouldn't want to impose any longer so late at night, right Crowley?"

"Oh come on angel, I _love_ imposing-"

"Like I said, hate to be a bother. Nice seeing you, dear!" Aziraphale practically dragged Crowley out the door without appearing to use any force at all, which was a remarkable feat in Hayley's eyes.

"Who _were_ they?" She demanded as soon as the roar of the old-fashioned car's engine had disappeared into the distance.

"Old acquaintances, like I said," Anathema replied, "And I'm not sure if they're entirely the good kind. One of them's good and one of them I know for sure is bad, but together they seem alright. Now you should probably go to bed; if Newt sees you up this late he's going to have an aneurysm."

* * *

"Oh, I remember _them,_ " was Adam's response when Hayley brought up the mysterious visitors.

"You've met them?" They had mentioned Adam, but Hayley hadn't realized he knew them _back._

"The posh one an' the one with sunglasses?" Pepper was frowning hard. "Sounds familiar, but I can't remember them prop'rly."

Adam lounged on his milk crate. "It's alright," he said dismissively. "They're prob'ly just comin' round to make sure everythin's alright. You remember what a mess we had _last_ year."

That made Them quiet down. Hayley crossed her arms belligerently.

" _I_ don't see why all the good stuff's got t' happen when I'm not here," she huffed. "No one'll _say_ anything about that."

"All the good stuff!" Brian protested. "You got t' fight a dark wizard! And go t' magic school! How's that not _good stuff_?"

"It was s _cary,_ " Hayley retorted. "It wasn't for _fun_ or a _game._ An' _you_ four were all here while I had t' go with the stupid Dursleys." She was quite glad of the fact that she could verbally abuse them without worrying about someone overhearing and telling them. The Dursleys had moved again while she was at school, and no one seemed to know the forwarding address.

And that was _fine_ with Hayley. It was fine with Them, too, because it meant Hayley was happy and it was just Them and Greasy Johnson again, not Them and Greasy Johnson and Dudley's gang.

"Yeah, but _magic_ school," Brian said. "We're just stuck learnin' about evolution an' verbs an' how to use part - party - language stuff. It's _boring._ "

"Yeah, well I haven't learned anythin' _that_ interestin'." Hayley hesitated. "I mean, we did learn how t' turn one thing into another thing, but I can't do anythin' big yet. Or anythin' that's live. Hermione says that's for sixth years to do."

"I still dunt see why you can't show us this stuff," Wensley complained. He had been intensely interested in how Hayley's magic worked, having been long fascinated with all things scientific.

"I'm not _allowed._ 'S _illegal_ t' do magic when I'm not at school." Hayley said, exasperated - she'd had to explain this before. "It's like how we're not allowed t' vote 'till we're eighteen."

"Or sixteen," Pepper said. "They've been talking 'bout it in Youth Parliament, mum says. She's all for it."

"Your mum's always for things like that, though. Pr'gressive stuff," Wensley pointed out.

"Yes, because that kind of stuff's the right thing," Pepper said insistently. "Givin' people rights that other people don't want them to have."

"Why would people not want other people t' have rights?" Adam questioned. "I mean, 's in the name. Rights. So it's right for them t' have 'em."

"Well," Pepper said with a wise air, "Some people dunt like other people havin' rights 'cause they're black or they're gay or somethin' like that an' they say God doesn't want 'em to have rights."

"That's stupid," was Adam's response. "Picky's always goin' on about how God loves ev'rybody an' we should love the people next door an' stuff like that. You can't just turn around an' say the opposite of stuff like that just 'cause."

"What about transgenders?" Wensley asked.

"Transgender people," Hayley corrected him.

"Right. Them."

Pepper shrugged. "I think people try an' say God's against them too," she said, "But Picky's alright with Hayley even though he thought she was Harry, too, so that's wrong too. An' mum was all happy about givin' her my old clothes when I asked."

"That's too bad, though," Brian said. "Hayley never did anythin' wrong. 'S not her fault she got born with the wrong parts."

"I never really thought about it," Hayley said. "I just figured it was the Dursleys bein' mean, but then everyone at school did it too."

"What about at your new school?" Pepper questioned. Hayley shrugged.

"I kept havin' t' correct people about it, but they just seemed a bit confused about it," she said. "They only thing they've got is not likin' people who dunt come from magical families."

"I thought you had t' be born with magic," Wensley said.

"Yeah, but some people are born with it an' dunt come from families of people who were," Hayley explained. "An' some people come from a really long line of people who were an' they get all snooty about it."

Adam was leaning back on his hands, blue eyes looking at nothing in particular. Hayley thought he might say something about magical people getting all worried about nothing, but all he said was "I forgot to ask. D'you have any more of the New Aquariums I can borrow?"

It took Hayley a moment to remember. "Oh! Yeah, Anathema's got a bunch of old ones. I could go up an' get 'em for you."

"I'll just come with you." Adam got up leisurely.

"If you're going, then we're comin' too." The rest of Them got to their feet, sending the dust from the quarry into clouds around them.

Hayley grinned, and they all raced for their bikes at the same moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, please!


	5. Second Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I have been seriously neglecting this story
> 
> I don't even have a good excuse but I'm gonna try to use this chapter to make it up to you.
> 
> Also just so you know I am still wildly skipping through Harry Potter canon and choosing which scenes appear in this story via one of those spinny wheels you throw darts at.
> 
> So if I skip something, just assume it happened basically how it happened in canon. Except for the whole thing with the Dursleys locking her behind a barred window because as we know the Dursleys stopped being involved in this story a long time ago.
> 
> Anyway! I feel like I should let you know that I am back in school at this point, which means much less frequent updates. Last time I went back to school I didn't manage to update anything for like, a month. It sucked. I'm gonna try not to let that happen here.

Hayley blamed Dobby for most of the things that went wrong on September first.

It wasn't as though any wizard would have wanted to seal the gateway to platform 9 3/4 so that it was impossible to get through. Hayley had, however embarrassed she felt about it later, nearly panicked until Anathema reminded her that she had an owl she could send to the school to ask for an alternative.

McGonagall didn't seem happy to have to come get her, but she never looked happy about anything. Hayley didn't think she'd ever seen McGonagall smile, except when Gryffindor had won the House cup the year before.

She also blamed Dobby - with proof - for the fact that she hadn't gotten a single letter from Ron or Hermione all summer.

" _That's_ why you never wrote back?" Hermione looked profoundly relieved. "I just thought you were ignoring me."

"Why'd I ignore you?" Hayley said indignantly. "I dunno why Dobby was so crazy 'bout the fact that I wasn't s'posed to come back here this year. I think it was him that stopped me from gettin' on the platform."

"What _is_ a house-elf, anyway?" Hermione questioned.

"I dunno."

"I'll have to look it up," Hermione said, mostly to herself. "We should be going to bed, anyway, we've got classes tomorrow."

But as Hayley curled up under the blankets, she couldn't help but feel nervous, and she didn't think it was about classes.

* * *

_Adam,_

_I know I forgot to give you the pictures I took when I gave you your camera back, but that's because I'd given them to Ron to get them developed so they moved. Here's one of me and Hermione - Ron was the one who took it, so he isn't in this one. There's a bunch more, though! You can look through them but please give them to Anathema so I can look at them again if I want to._

_Also, I think your parents might find it weird if you had a bunch of photos that didn't stay still._

* * *

_Hayley,_

_Hogwarts looks wicked. Everyone says so. What's in the lake in that last one? None of us could tell. I think Anathema's bought a photo book to keep them in._

_I'm sending the camera back with more film so you can take some more, but don't forget to bring it back again!_

* * *

_Adam,_

_Thanks! And that's just the giant squid in the lake. I think they're a sort of pet. No one really seems bothered by them being there. I don't know if the squid's a him or a her, before you ask._

* * *

_Hayley,_

_That's wicked._

* * *

Hayley didn't send home letters about the bloody writing on the wall after the Halloween feast, or the Petrified cat and Colin Creevey.

She did tell them how she'd won the Quidditch game for Gryffindor, and how she'd been hit by a Bludger _but I'm alright, honestly, it wasn't that bad. Lockhart messed with my arm but Madam Pomfrey fixed it right away._

'Right away' was probably exaggerating, but Hayley didn't want them to worry. Saying she'd gotten her bones removed by a hack job of a professor would probably just make them both panic.

Having parents, or at least vaguely parental figures, who really did care about her was sort of strange. Hayley was only just now acclimating to it after spending the entire summer with Anathema and Newt. Newt was sort of predictable, in the way he seemed very much the kind of person who preferred the road more often traveled.

Anathema, however, was awesome.

She believed in all sorts of things that the Dursleys had never even mentioned, like rainforests and how important it was that they be kept the way they are, and optimally restored to their former breadth and no one allowed to cut anything down, and recycled paper and white people out of anywhere they'd taken over so that the people who lived there first could have their land back.

Anathema got magazines like New Aquarian that Adam thought were fascinating and Hayley did too, and celebrated things like Solstices and Beltane and Samhain, even if what she did was only vaguely occult and not very witchy at all, since all the witchy stuff she'd done had involved The Book.

Hayley had been told a lot about The Book.

She was almost disappointed that it ended just before her eleventh birthday, and was therefore useless - she'd have liked to be able to read through it and figure things out for herself, when she was older. Anathema had assured her that as an unofficial Device, she would have been able to, but The Book didn't cover the future anymore, and anyway they'd-

Then Anathema had cut herself off and given Newt a meaningful look, and he'd given one back that seemed relieved, to Hayley.

She hated it when adults acted like that, but she supposed even Anathema - who'd rescued her from the Dursleys - couldn't be perfect.

Hayley did think it was quite nice that they both had green eyes and black hair, even if her eyes were a little darker - it made them look really related, even if Anathema and Newt weren't married and Hayley wasn't sure they were ever planning to be.

Hayley hesitated. Thoughts of Anathema and Newt were making her feel guilty for not telling them anything. Maybe they'd panic, but would it be better if they knew? Anathema would probably be mad if she found out that Hayley had been keeping it from her.

* * *

_Adam,_

_If something was doing something to people at school, and it was really dangerous, and it might be deadly except no one's died, do you think I should tell Anathema?_

* * *

_Hayley,_

_Why on Earth would you not tell me about this? Explain! I want to know what's going on with you and if you're in danger! Write back immediately!_

_Anathema_

* * *

_Adam,_

_You told Anathema, didn't you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, please?


	6. Second Year (Reprise, 2x Speed)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok I DON'T have a good explanation for the long gap in between updates or the short chapter, but at least it's a new chapter?

_Dear Anathema,_

_I promise I had a really good reason for not telling you, but things weren't good here and I really didn't want to worry you..._

* * *

When Hermione got Petrified, that was the last straw.

Hayley _had_ to figure out what was going on, or else whatever was going around doing this might actually end up killing someone, and that was Really Bad.

She wished there had been something in New Aquarian about magical, petrifying creatures. Then maybe she might know what to do about this.

Hagrid, as subtly as he ever managed to be, told her and Ron to 'follow the spiders'.

Which went horribly, of course.

Hayley didn't think she'd ever been as relieved, confused, and about ten different other emotions at the same time as she was when that same Ford Anglia they'd take to school shot out of the forest and popped its doors open for them. She practically collapsed into her bed that night, and didn't think to tell Ron about her epiphany until she remembered it the next morning.

"Aragog said someone died in the bathroom, right? _What if she's still there?_ "

* * *

_Hayley,_

_Didn't want to worry me? What makes me worry is hearing that you were dealing with all of this on your own! I don't know what could have done any of this, but do not purposefully seek it out. Whatever it is, it can be left to the teachers, I promise._

* * *

It felt like she was tumbling through the days, something counting down to when they found Hermione's crumpled-up notes in her still-Petrified hands, to when they found out about Ginny, to when they had to _force Lockhart at wandpoint_ into the chamber to help them save her.

Not that he looked like he was going to be much help.

Anathema's letter lingered in the back of her mind - _do not purposefully seek it out -_ but Ginny was _dying._ She might already be-

No. She'd be fine. Hayley and Ron would find her and they'd save her because the good guys always won. She was like an old hero who had to defeat the beast, like that old story about St. George and the dragon except without the converting everybody to Christianity bit.

Ron and Lockhart were stuck behind a rockfall when Lockhart tried to obliviate her. Hayley did her best to swallow her fear and kept going.

She knew it'd be Ginny stuck down there, but somehow the sight of her - even smaller now that she wasn't moving, it had to be a trick of the light how frail she looked, how pale - was worse than Hayley had been expecting.

She was almost relieved when the diary-thing started talking at her to distract her. The giant basilisk was not nearly as welcome.

Hayley had never used a sword in her life, but she'd seen movies. Movies never mentioned how heavy a sword was in your hand, how the jewels that glittered on it cut into your palms. They never mentioned how scary it was to be stared down by a thing whose only reason for not killing her yet was because it couldn't see where she was.

She decided that nearly dying to do the right thing wasn't as easy as movies made it look, either, and also that she was really glad Fawkes had been there.

Riddle was shouting at her, kicking Fawkes away. Hayley's eyes zeroed in on the basilisk fang, still where she'd dropped it after yanking it out of her arm.

Hayley dived for it, stabbing the diary clean through. Riddle screamed. Ginny breathed in.

...The professors were _never_ going to believe her.

* * *

_Dear Anathema,_

_Dumbledore says you can't come to Hogwarts because there are wards keeping non-magical people away, not because he doesn't want you here. I think he'd of told you already except you keep sending him Howlers which may be making him upset or maybe just amused. He's very strange. Also how did you learn how to send Howlers? And where did you get them?_

_Anyway I promised him I'd tell you the whole story, which I suppose really started with the Duelling Club and all and Nick and Justin getting Petrified, even though Nick's a ghost..._

* * *

When Hayley stepped onto the platform, Anathema found her in under three seconds and immediately swept her into a _very_ tight hug.

"Never do that again," Anathema hissed. "I mean obviously you shouldn't let bad things happen, but you're twelve, Hayley!"

"I'm alright," Hayley protested, somewhat breathlessly. Newt was hovering anxiously behind Anathema, probably ready to start lecturing her on safety. Hayley, to her own puzzlement, was rather pleased about this turn of events.

"Yes, but you might not have been!" Anathema let go, only to hold onto Hayley's shoulders and look at her sternly. "Promise me you will not purposefully risk you life again."

"What if someone else's is at stake?"

"Get a teacher."

Hayley frowned. That had never worked before, so she didn't see why it should now. "...Alright."

"Good," Anathema said. "Adam somehow got his hands on your letter, you know, and the four of them are wound tense waiting for you. I'd brace yourself."

"Oh," said Hayley. "Well - at least I won't have to tell the story all over again."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, please!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are seriously appreciated, guys.


End file.
